Bar codes allow for the sophisticated management of almost anything, without the traditional man hours usually required to gather information. For example, bar codes may be used to track assets in buildings, manage vehicle fleets, track the delivery of mail within various locations within an office, etc. A bar code is the combination of black and white lines that contains character information. The character information in bar codes may be read with specialized reading devices and subsequently passed on to a computer or other device (e.g., cash registers and other appliances). Various types of reading devices are used to obtain the data represented in bar codes, depending upon the application. One type of reading device that is used is a scanner. Scanners are generally equipped with laser diodes and a system of mirrors and lenses to scan the bar code and capture the reflection thereof.
One scanning method is so-called corded scanning. Corded scanning typically involves the use of a bar code scanner coupled to either a serial port or a keyboard of a computer. FIG. 1 illustrates a typical corded scanning system 100 that may be used for bar code reading applications. System 100 includes a computer 105, monitor 110, keyboard wedge 115, scanner 120 and keyboard 125. Keyboard wedge 115 is coupled between computer 105 and scanner 120 and keyboard 125. In essence, keyboard wedge 115 is an interface that permits the incorporation of bar code technology with data management systems (e.g., software packages) already in place in computer 105. Characters typed on keyboard 125 are received at keyboard wedge and transmitted to computer 105 in the familiar fashion. In addition, bar code character information scanned by scanner 120 is converted into keyboard keycodes by keyboard wedge 115 and subsequently transmitted to computer 105. Thus, computer 105 is not capable of distinguishing between characters received from scanner 120 or keyboard 125.
FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary applications display 200 that may be displayed on monitor 110. Display 200 includes data fields 201-203 that may be descriptions of data base fields. Data field 201 may, for example, be used to enter information regarding the job number of a particular database entry, while data fields 202 and 203 may be used to enter location and operator name information, respectively. User information may be entered into each of the data fields by scanner 120 or keyboard 125. For example, a user of system 100 may scan a bar code of an item using scanner 120 and have the character information associated with the bar code appear in either data field 201, 202 or 203.
One problem with system 100 is that character information from any bar code may be scanned into display 200. Thus, information from bar codes unrelated to the particular application used in system 100 may be scanned into data fields 201-203. It is therefore possible to scan a bar code on a milk container, for example, and have the information appear (improperly) as job number information in data field 201.
Another problem with system 100 is that it invites users to scan information into the wrong data field. The determination of which information is entered into which data field is dependent upon the location of a cursor within display 200. For instance, if a user scans a bar code label that contains job number information and the cursor is in data field 201, the job number character information is correctly entered into data field 201. However, if a user scans a bar code that contains operator name character information and the cursor is in data field 201, the operator name information is incorrectly entered into data field 201. Consequently, a user must always verify the location of the cursor before scanning a bar code in order to ensure that the cursor is placed in the proper data field. System 100 may therefore be impractical (due to its inherently high risk of error) in applications where hundreds, or thousands, of bar codes must be scanned in order to enter information into data fields.